I am too young to remember the 1980s. Not a day goes by that I neglect to thank my lucky stars.
Amid the mess of incompetent presidents, bad hair bands, disappointing movie sequels and, well, Buckner, it's hard to find any redeeming qualities in the entire decade. I probably shouldn't even try.
But one thing stands out - the glory days of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. As someone who has only recently rediscovered his passion for basketball, I only wish I had known what I was missing throughout my childhood. I'm from the generation that sees Casey Affleck in a green "I Hate L.A." T-shirt in "Good Will Hunting" and feels nothing. The emotion's just not there.
How can you blame us? Larry Bird was in Boston for 13 years, made the playoffs all 13 times and won three rings. He retired when I was five. In the 15 years since, the Celtics have had four winning seasons. That's right. Four.
Luckily, they're closing in on number five.
For the first time since Bon Jovi was "Slippery When Wet," the Celtics are heading into the All-Star break with the best record in the NBA. It took an entire childhood, but I finally got to see it.
But that's not all. It's as if Red Auerbach scripted it from the grave. Just as the Celtics acquired Ray Allen, James Posey, Eddie House and some guy named Garnett in an offseason frenzy last summer, the Lakers simultaneously emerged to threaten their best season of the post-Shaq era, arguably positioning themselves as the best team in the Western Conference.
Obviously, there are question marks. The jury is still out on whether Pau Gasol can replace the production, on both ends of the floor, once brought by Andrew Bynum; whether Bynum can return from his season-threatening knee injury in time for the playoffs, and if he does, whether he'll be back in full force; and whether the 29-year-old man-child masquerading as the face of the franchise can stop whining long enough to lead his team into a deep playoff run.
(In case you missed the first three times I used this column to relentlessly bash the Lakers' superstar, I'll inform you now that Kobe Bryant has never won a postseason series without Shaquille O'Neal. If Kobe's Lakers and Shaq's Suns end up meeting in the playoffs this season, I may have to sell a kidney just to fly out west for a couple weeks and see the inevitable fireworks live.)
But here's the thing: As much as I hate the Lakers, I'm rooting for them this season. I want the Gasol trade to make Mitch Kupchak look like a genius (as of this writing, the Lakers are 4-1 post-Pau). I want Bynum to come back in March and swat shots like a superstar. And, as much as it pains me to say this, I think I want Kobe to grow up and win.
Because more than anything, I want to see a Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals in June. If nothing else, it'll teach me to hate L.A. for the right reasons. I want a healthy rivalry - not an isolated resentment of one man just because he cheats on his wife, chases away Hall of Fame teammates and takes more bad shots than 50 Cent.
The Celtics and Lakers have met in the Finals 10 times, easily more than any other two teams in NBA history. For the last of those 10 series, I was in diapers. But if the Celtics can win the East this spring, and the Lakers can do their part to stave off the rest of the West's heavyweights, we could see a return to the good old days.
Because if I couldn't dream about the return of Celtics-Lakers, how could I ever look back at the '80s without wanting to hurl? I'll be honest. I'm getting tired of sitting through reruns of "Back to the Future Part III."
Evans Clinchy is a junior majoring in English. He can be reached at Evans.Clinchy@tufts.edu.
